Irina Piatkov
Blacktown Molecular Research Laboratory, Australia
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: J Pharmacogenomics Pharmacoproteomics
Pharmacogenetics (PGx) testing can help medical practitioners with drug prescription or treatment procedures in regards to more accurately predicting the starting dose, therapeutic dose, reduction in side effects and complications. It was demonstrated that PGx testing prior to prescribing psychotropic medication is associated with faster improvements in symptoms, reduction in adverse effects and health service costs. However, despite the accumulating facts that the implementation of PGx and personalized medicine can deliver effective therapy through prescriptions based on genetic profile, low acceptance and often complete rejection by medical practitioners are the main factors in preventing PGx clinical implementation. Blacktown Molecular Research Laboratory (former DHI) was established in 2005 and since that time has been involved in a broad array of projects in personalized medicine. Our experience in Pharmacogenetic implementation and data from the key current projects will be discussed: The â??General practitionersâ?? awareness about individual responses to drugsâ?? survey was conducted by WSU year 3-4 medical students. The results demonstrate the low awareness about drug interactions, individual responses to drug and PGx application between Western Sydney general practitioners. Metabolic outcome in patients attending a Clozapine clinic study is a cooperative project between the laboratory, endocrinologists and psychiatrists. The associations found between several genetic polymorphisms and clinical data will be discussed. Our data indicates that Norclozapine is probably involved in treatment outcome more than previously considered.